dr. rowe talked about the simplest thing that every private practice in the world does, is they call the patients a day or two before the appointment to confirm they're coming to the appointment. the va hasn't figured that hoou? it's impossible to believe that that actually occurs. the appointment people are calling -- they're writing letters to tell them when their appointment is without talking to them. it's like, really? nobody's getting fired over this kind of decision making? it's just unbelievable that this is occurring. and i appreciate you, mr. griffin, for your comments. we need to have leadership in the va and a system within the va that holds people accountable and makes it known that if you don't do your job, you're going to be out of there, or you're going to be prosecuted. just simply that happening will change the entire culture there. mr. griffin, i have a few more seconds left. can you comment on where do you think this leadership should come from? should it come from the top

to add to the point dr. rowe made earlier and mr. mcclain made about the success that hospitals and health organizations have and reminding patients of their visits, in the midst of this hearing i got a text telling me my appointment june 16th is at 9:00 a.m. to confirm hit c and reply. i hit c, confirmed the appointment, give me a phone number to call up if i had a question. those systems are out there not to beat the horse any more, but let's get that done.

to add to the point dr. rowe made earlier and mr. mcclain made about the success that hospitals and health organizations have and reminding patients of their visits, in the midst of this hearing i got a text telling me my appointment june 16th is at 9:00 a.m. to confirm hit c and reply. i hit c, confirmed the appointment, give me a phone number to call up if i had a question. those systems are out there not to beat the horse any more, but let's get that done. it works. and mr. chairman, i would like to thank you and the ranking member who is currently not here, but you all in this committee have done such a great job in responding to this crisis. i think showing excellent leadership. we heard from the va directly. we've heard from the gao, the office of inspector general, hearing from the private sector. each of us in our individual capacities are listening directly to the veterans in our community. i ask we have a panel of vet vans and veterans service organizations if we are talking about veteran-centered care, we need to hear from

to add to the point dr. rowe made earlier and mr. mcclain made about the success that hospitals and health organizations have and reminding patients of their visits, in the midst of this hearing i got a text telling me my appointment june 16th is at 9:00 a.m. to confirm hit c and reply. i hit c, confirmed the appointment, give me a phone number to call up if i had a question. those systems are out there not to beat the horse any more, but let's get that done. it works. and mr. chairman, i would like to thank you and the ranking member who is currently not here, but you all in this committee have done such a great job in responding to this crisis. i think showing excellent leadership. we heard from the va directly. we've heard from the gao, the office of inspector general, hearing from the private sector. each of us in our individual capacities are listening directly to the veterans in our community. i ask we have a panel of vet vans and veterans service organizations if we are talking about veteran-centered care, we need to hear from

row -- dr. row, tennessee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to introduce someone before i start. timothy dennis is here. this is foster youth shadow day. tim, if you would stand up. he spent six years in foster care in tennessee and he's here, as many of his other friends are, with the hill today. let's give him a round of applause. [ applause ] >> phil row speaking. travis, i remember your testimony very well, and i remember you being here and it was powerful then, it's powerful now. thank you for coming back. i'm your neighbor just south of you in east tennessee, where in kentucky are you from? >> i'm from a small town in knot county, kentucky, border virginia, the closest city to me, the people recognize is hazard, kentucky. >> so you're hazard? i know exactly where you live then. first of all, i appreciate your testimony, and one of the things you brought up is extremely important, five years ago, last year, we had the va and d.o.d. come in, and they just burned a billion dollars, a billion. we're worried about 3 million. we burns

dr. rowe, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman. let me start by asking, i looked from fy 2010 to fy 2013. you mentioned in your ratings system outstanding, exceeds fully successful. i just did the percentages, and they're unchanged. you just changed the mix a little bit. and if you add the outstanding and exceeds fully successful in 2010, it was 73%. if you look at 2013, it's 78%. it actually went up. so that means there's an expectation. and it's varied between 75% and 73%. so you really didn't change anything other than the very top ratings so that the bonus or performance award or whatever you want to call it went down just a little bit. so fully 80% of people last year got an award. and were exceptional out of the 470. do you think that that's normal in business? that every single executive is exceptional? >> congressman, i -- i can't answer that question about business. >> well, i mean, the awards here seem to say that. i mean, if you look at -- at your own data. i'm not making this up. this is your data i'm looking at. >> con

. -- dr. rowe, you're wreck nearsides. >> let me start by asking dish looked from fy2010 to fy2013. you mentioned in your rating system, outstanding, exceeds fully successful. i did the personals and they're unchanged. you just changed the name a little bit if and you add the outstanding and exceedses actually successful it was 73%. if you look at 2013 it's 78%. actually went up. so, that means there's an expectation, and it's varied between 75 and 73. so you didn't change anything other than the very top rating so that the bonus or performance award or whatever you want to call it went down just a little bit. so fully 80% of people got an award and were exceptional out of 470. do you think that's normal in business, that every single executive is exceptional? >> congressman, i can't answer that question about business. >> i mean, the awards here seem to say that. if you look at your own data -- i'm not making this up. this is your dat to --... is that, a performance award, whenever you want to call that, mi sending veterans to the outside, private care, is that part of the metric?

miller: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from tennessee, a veteran himself, dr. row. the speaker pro tempore: the -- dr. roe. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. roe: i rise in support of h.r. 4810, the veterans access to care act. as a physician, veteran and member of the house veterans affairs committee, words cannot express my outrage over the v.a.'s blatant disregard for the lives of those who serve their country honorably and earned timely access to quality care. i've helped run a hospital and am fully aware of how wait times and performance goals work. when the v.a. set a 14-day goal for scheduling poims it should have become immediately apparent that this was unattainable and could only be realized by cooking the books. even in the private sector a 14-day wait time is quite ambitious this bipartisan legislation offers a simple solution to a deadly problem. the needs of the vast majority of v.a. patients across the country can and will continue to be met through the existing v.a. system. but it's outrageous that veterans could die awaiting c

no one is going to defend any type of bureaucracy public or private if it does not work because dr. rowe had it right. what is best for the veteran. what is that model going to look like? i understand on the fee for service. as long as it is a viejo medical managers enter the veteran is truly not in charge of his own health care. i get that. mike, i guess, pleats all of us in here is, we have to keep pushing for data. we have to have it come clean. we have to put people in jail. we have to let due process do its work, but we have a responsibility for the veterans, and those 98,000 our constituents, to improve the system and have accountability. i would encourage all of you to my colleagues, it is not going to be enough and you will not be judged by pointing out what the problems are. that needs to be done, but it is a means to an end. the end is improved care for veterans in a timely manner that is cost-effective to the taxpayer. i think, again, mr. rakowski, you said it. this is a starting point. it is not even the starting point for us, i would argue. the date is going to come. i think

dr. rowe, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. last week during the recess, i e had an opportunity to do something very personal to me.co as a vietnam veteran, i when to vietnam. we talked to the folks there that were looking for our 1,200 mias.ing for and, quite frankly, i think we owe it to the honor of those who didn't return, but to provide for those who did, and we're not doing a very good job of that right now.odd t i th one of the things i think the problem with the va system is, is that the financial incentives are lined up to not provide the care. t let me give you an example.no in no-shows, for instance, whens that's a problem with a consult, in our office and we had whe patients who were supposed to ew manage the consult, not a ho regularly scheduled patient, we had ways to check for those t folks. because if they didn't show upt they took up a slot we couldn't fill up with somebody else.ul i'll give you an example, i'm t. looking here at the, at a medical center that saw 68,796 patients. that was an entire medical cent

. >> dr. row you are recognized. >> i am a veteran and physician and i trained at a v.a., some of my training was at a v.a. it is disturbing to me that we have created this uncertainty among our veterans in the country. i think we have lost a lot of trust and i want to ask do you agree with the interim report that the i.g. just produced that we have today? do you agree with the findings? >> i do. >> and we have a situation where you say 1,700 veterans are going to get care. why in the world do we have to have hearing after hearing after hearing. we are here on a wednesday night about 1700 veterans. why wasn't this just done? let me just read this to you right here. the length of time these 1,700 veterans wait for appointments are added to the electronic weight list will never be captured in any wait time data because the staff had not yet scheduled their appointment or added them to the electronic waiting list. it is the ultimate catch 22. let me also ask you, here are people out here. this is wha

dr. king calls up stokely to invite him and he says that he is coming and is going to be in the front rowtionis leading the for dr. king. it is important to remember that stokely loves dr. king deeply. tavis: this may sound like an indictment on this generation and, if it comes across that way, maybe it is deliberate and unapologetic -- at a dinner party not that long ago, we were talking about how we do not measure up. are not our parents. we are not our great-grandparents. i was coming to the point that you made about what stokely was doing when he was 23 and 24. he was not the only one. there are a whole lot of these brothers and sisters. the list goes on and on. king was young and malcolm was young. you look at what we are doing today and not doing today and ,hat they were doing back then compare and contrast that for me. ofthere are historic times movements and things have transformed. they did so much to help the african american community and the vestiges of racism were defeated. the new generation has had a tough time confronting the challenges that remain. they did heroic work. c

dr. farg ton and for all of your service. an amazing job. cleez, if -- colleagues, if there are no questions, let's go to mr. rows -- rose for the report. >> this is not one that we did report on. >> thank you. best wishes for your retirement. we are going to call up next our parks parks and recreation department because of the commission happening on the side. we are going to call him up first . madam clerk can you call item 4 -- 14 with this presentation. mr. clerk, sorry. city clerk: item 14: [park code - annual increase of west harbor berthing license fees] sponsor: mayor ordinance amending the park code to require the controller to increase the berthing license fees for the west harbor of the san francisco marina small craft harbor each year by 3 the annual increase in the consumer price index, whichever is higher, until september 1, 2043; and making environmental findings. fiscal impactt1234 >> thank you. thank you supervisors for allowing us to present. we are excited that we've started to come out of the worst of the budget. we are very grateful for the mayor's suggest in the budget process. we have a ver

dr form and can put it on the screen. >> i want to confirm hooits that's one of the building we had o1 up the street retained s - yeah, so the other one in auto row. yeah. okay >> this building was the only one found to be a historic resource and the buildings were all 5 properties evaluated in 2006 and there was a ate corridor that was reaffirmed this is the only historic resource. >> thank you, commissioners questions or comments seeing none, i'm to open this up for public comment public comment on this item that is we have no speaker cards no public comment okay. back to commission. anybody commissioner pearlman >> i'll talk. you know, to me this brings up the constant dilemma of san francisco and any place you, you know, i'm wondering about the fate of the van ness auto row as any kind of district on the other side of van ness to the west we had a recent project that is going to save a couple of facades now another one it seems like an odds one to have the tail wagging the dog, you know, whether as a partial alternative or the facade it feels like an odd thing we need more housing and buildings that, you know, we need to grow so i wonder abou

i think sergeant bergdahl's going to have a tough row to hoe because of the circumstances of his capture. i just hope that he has good support. >> dr. richy said the army, the military honed this procedure, they do know how to offer support and that kind of support could continue really for quite some time. john henry. >> it's common knowledge, even probably to sergeant bergdahl that his fellow soldiers called him a deserter. at what point do you think he'll be ready to answer questions about his disappearance. >> that was one of the key questions this week on capitol hill when defense secretary chuck hagel testified, when are we going to know more about the circumstances of sergeant bergdahl's capture. defense secretary hagel did tell the lawmakers that the military will conduct in his words a very comprehensive and coordinated effort. that will of course include talking to sergeant bergdahl. we don't know when that might be. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> bergdahl's return is sparking questions about back pay. after almost five years as a prisoner, the army could oberg calendar as much as $300,000 in salary. army official

dr. oz on that case. >>> and bad news for mickey d's. america's not loving it. for the 20th year in a rownkin' donuts are ahead of golden arches. papa john's holds the title of favorite. everyone else is cooking at home >>> president obama says he will not send american combat troops into iraq, but he is expanding u.s. involvement in the latest crisis there. >> so what will their role be and what is the best next move? here to weigh in is the president's -- on the president's plan for iraq, senior advisor to the coalition in iraq during the george w. bush administration, dan. 300 advisors. does that seem like a good plan to you? >> i think what the president said yesterday, he did lay out to his credit, the strategic interest we have in iraq, that basically iraq and also syria up in a flames in a critically important part of the region, terrible strategic play for the united states. however, the solution that he laid out struck me as woefully inadequate. we can't do much to help them beat back this insurgency with just up to, quote, up to 300 military advisors. so look, the good news is h

dr. robert works the emergency room at lennox hospital. >> we're talking about skin infections that could t y.lo>> rep ht' team captured visible crumbs all over the floor in this rowin on our seat. it's enough to make veteran flight attendants cringe. >> it disgusts me but doesn't surprise he. >> reporter: she worked as a flight attendant for 23 years. she says you wouldn't believe what people do. >> changing the baby's diaper on the tray table. >> where we eat. >> yes. >> reporter: and that's where we found the highest levels of bacteria. the tray table papi -- a petri dish of germs. while the armrests didn't come up with anything harmful, buckle up. the seat belts were filthy. including this one that turned up something called human bacteroides. >> these are things that live in our gut and intestine. they cause serious infections. >> reporter: all from can touching one of those surfaces. >> absolutely. >> reporter: in all we took 13 samples. 9 of them came back positive for germs. most airlines say they wipe down every surface, every tray table between each flight. but insiders say that's impossible. the ground crews just don't have time. what can the airlines d